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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28201719">Stuck in Square One</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKnittingJedi/pseuds/TheKnittingJedi'>TheKnittingJedi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Critical Role (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Explicit Consent, Friends With Benefits, Future Fic, He/Him Pronouns for Mollymauk Tealeaf, Mentions of Lucien (Critical Role), Other, Post-Canon, Sexual Content, but they get better!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:35:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,969</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28201719</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKnittingJedi/pseuds/TheKnittingJedi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>If there was something Jester learned quickly, it was that sex could be both a social transaction and a fun way to pass the time, but sadly (and hilariously), almost none of her adventurer companions seemed to be on the same page.</p><p>Thank the Traveler for Molly.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jester Lavorre/Mollymauk Tealeaf</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>57</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a short, silly thing, but I couldn't get out of my head how much the fwb dynamic would suit Jester and Molly. There's nothing really graphic, hence the Mature rating, but let me know (politely) if you think it needs to be bumped up.</p><p>(I wrote the first paragraph of this fic well before Laura's most recent Talks appearance, but a few of my headcanons got validated and it feels good, man.)</p><p>The first chapter takes place during Molly's arc with the Mighty Nein, and it doesn't stray too far from canon. The second chapter is pure speculation. Hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>People who considered Jester an ingenue due to her undeniably sheltered upbringing always forgot two things: that she was the daughter of the most prominent courtesan in Nicodranas, and that said shelter was offered by the high-end inn where her mother conducted all of her business. If there was something Jester learned quickly, it was that sex could be both a social transaction and a fun way to pass the time.</p><p>In short, she liked sweet things, and she liked sweet people, and she liked sinking her teeth into both.</p><p>Of course, a cloistered life limited one’s chances of experimenting. And, sadly (and hilariously), almost none of her adventurer companions seemed to be on the same page. As much as she enjoyed flustering them with her innuendos, she wasn't going to embarrass them for laughs more than she strictly had to. For some reason, they all saw the physical and the emotional as inextricably linked, and got awfully hung up on that. Even Beau, who talked a good game but always looked away and changed the subject, cheeks bright red, when Jester’s playful allusions got under her skin a little too much.</p><p>Thank the Traveler for Molly.</p><p>The first time it happened, they had just come back into town after spending really too much time in the sewers of Zadash. When they finally reached the Leaky Tap inn, dirty, exhausted and out of spells, Jester collapsed in the foyer, crying that she’d kill for a bath, but was too tired to walk all the way over the tub that was being set for them on the second floor.</p><p>Sitting up from where he was sprawled on the floor next to her, looking equally tapped out, Molly turned his back to her. “Hop on, I’ll carry you. I’m serious,” he added, when Jester laughed his suggestion away. “But I’m warning you, if I’m carrying you all the way upstairs, I’m going to climb into that tub, too.”</p><p>With a cheek pressed on the floor, Jester reached out blindly in a silent request to be helped up. “That’s fair. Deal.”</p><p>“Have fun,” someone told the two tieflings as they made for the stairs, the purple one carrying the blue one on his back.</p><p>Despite his slight frame, there were strong, compact muscles in Molly’s arms and back. Feeling a sudden surge of gratitude and affection for him, Jester pressed her lips on his nape, between two peacock feathers, and then licked the same spot for good measure, giggling when Molly laughed and squirmed.</p><p>After he fulfilled his promise, carrying her all the way to the edge of the tub, he gently let her down on her feet and turned around, putting his hand on his hips. His pretty red eyes were unusually earnest, even as his lips were curved in a much more familiar smile. “This is your last chance to tell me to get lost.”</p><p>In lieu of an answer, Jester started taking off her clothes. She did so artlessly, letting pieces of her light armor and other garments fall on the floor as she went, too tired to try and be even the least bit seductive.</p><p>And, after all, it was <em> Molly. </em>He was her friend. She would have felt ridiculous.</p><p>As it was, she was too exhausted to even feel self-conscious. With a sigh, she slipped into the warm water, submerging her tired limbs in the divine heat, hugging her legs and letting her chin rest on her knees. When she finally looked up at Molly, he was looking at her with his arms crossed and a look that was hard to read… something between pride and affection. “Deal’s a deal,” she said, and closed her eyes as she sunk down, letting the water submerge her head.</p><p>She reemerged again in time to hear the unmistakable sound of an unclasped buckle. Exhausted or not, she wasn’t going to miss <em> this. </em></p><p>As was to be expected, Molly appeared even less self-conscious than she had felt. She couldn’t help but admire — and be a little jealous — of the effortless, graceful sensuality he displayed as he undressed. Jester’s eyes followed the pattern of scars and tattoos, quickly revealed as the clothes fell off, overlapping in an expanse that begged closer examination. But his body was a good show in and of itself, all lithe and sinewy and Molly.</p><p>When he entered the tub, careful not to displace more water than necessary, she waited until he was settled before leaning back and stretching her legs at his sides, resting her head back against the hard edge of the tub. She made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. “I should have taken a towel.”</p><p>She opened her left eye, just a crack, to see Molly reach behind him to grab a bar of soap and make a whole show of it. The bastard was gorgeous and he knew it. “I would love to be the gentleman who goes and fetches you one, but…”</p><p>Closing her eye once again, she splashed him half-heartedly. “I knew I should have asked Fjord to have a bath with me instead.”</p><p>“You didn’t ask me anything,” he said, laughing. Then he took one of her feet and started rubbing it with soap-lathered hands. “And yet here we are.”</p><p>With a moan, Jester let herself slide until the water lapped at her ears. “You’re forgiven,” she said, making the water bubble. “And you have mud in your hair — wait, no, don’t touch it, now you’re just making a mess.” It was with a tinge of regret that she slipped her foot from his hand, manoeuvred inside the tight tub and tapped on his knees until he made space for her.</p><p>Kneeling between his legs, Jester cupped her hands in the water and lifted them. “Bend down,” she instructed, and she spilled the water over Molly’s head.</p><p>And, if in doing so her naked breasts would be right in his line of sight, well…</p><p>Ignoring both the uncomfortably hard surface she was kneeling on and the heat that gathered in her cheeks, she took the soap from Molly’s hand. When she looked down, Molly’s eyes met hers, narrowed and considering. His forearms were resting on the edge of the tub and he made no move to touch her.</p><p>Jester almost lost her confidence under this scrutiny, and she was glad when he closed his eyes with a sigh after she started massaging his scalp with soapy hands.</p><p>“I could get used to this.” His voice was distinctly deeper, and another kind of heat started to ignite in Jester, lower, this time. “It never gets old.”</p><p>“Have many people washed your hair?” She worked her fingers around his horns. She was glad he took off all the baubles that usually hung from them, or she would have been afraid of ruining them.</p><p>Molly opened his eyes again. “No, that’s why I never turn down an offer.” He leaned closer, just a mere inch, and his eyes fell shut again for just a moment as he inhaled, as if to catch her scent. Then he looked up at her. “But I would also like to know exactly what you are offering, sweetheart.”</p><p>In her mind, for her first actual time with someone, Jester was going to try and be all sultry and seductive, but her plans went out the window. And perhaps it was a good thing, she reflected, because Molly was handsome, and he was her friend, and he was putting the decision firmly in her hands, and she was so happy and excited that she couldn’t help the grin that spread on her face. “Oh, you know,” she said, trying — and failing — to keep her giddiness under control as she rinsed the soap out of his hair. “Just a bit of fun?”</p><p>An identical grin, just a little more mischievous, appeared on Molly’s face. As Jester ran his hands through his hair to get rid of the suds, he leaned forward again. When he spoke, she could feel his breath on her skin. “Is this okay?” he asked.</p><p>“Mmm-mmm.” The anticipation was so overwhelming she found it impossible to speak.</p><p>Molly chuckled quietly. “I’m going to need a clear yes or no, sweetheart.”</p><p>“Yes.” She lowered her gaze, and the way he was looking at her… She swallowed. “Please.”</p><p>In the end, it was quick – they were both sore and tired out of their minds, it couldn’t have gone any other way – but oh, so fun. It felt good to be touched and cared for by someone who liked her, and to repay the favor in kind. Molly’s fingers were long, deft and graceful when they held a sword as when they crooked inside her, and neither of them was too bothered if their precious water splashed on the floor when his thumb found a sensitive spot and Jester’s gasp was gently smothered against Molly’s lips.</p><p>And neither was concerned, either, when Jester’s hand found Molly eager and ready, and his expression when he sighed not long after, blissed out, was etched in Jester’s memory as clear as one of her drawings.</p><p> </p><p>She wondered how long would it take for the happy kernel of warmth in her chest to dissipate. She was honest when she told Molly that she only wanted a bit of fun, but that was the point, wasn’t it? It <em> had </em>been fun.</p><p>There was only one minor, tiny thing that had her… well, <em> worried </em> wasn’t the right word. Something that needed to be settled.</p><p>A few days passed until she finally managed to be alone, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the room she shared with Beau and Yasha at the Leaky Tap. The girls were downstairs, having drinks with the rest of the group. Jester would have normally been the loudest of the bunch, but she made up a very convincing excuse and retreated upstairs.</p><p>With her journal on her knees, she took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, and then exclaimed, in her cheeriest voice, “Hello, Traveler! Are you there?”</p><p>She looked to her right, then to her left, but the room stayed empty. The disappointment she felt was starting to turn into resignation when a familiar green robe peeked out of the corner of her eye, making her heart flutter.</p><p>“I’m never far, my dear” said a beloved voice.</p><p>Jester huffed an exaggerated sigh as the tension left her body, then straightened again, crossing her ankles. “I made some friends!”</p><p>Sitting beside her on the bed, the hooded figure nodded. “I know. They should consider themselves lucky.”</p><p>Jester’s hands tightened on the cover of the journal. <em> He knew. </em>“You’re not jealous of them, are you?” she asked breezily.</p><p>“I don’t know, should I be?” the Traveler replied, in mock outrage, then he leaned closer, bumping her shoulder with his. “As long as I’m the first.”</p><p>Jester giggled and rested her head on his shoulder. “Of course you are. Always.”</p><p>“Then no, I have no reason to be jealous of your friends.” He flicked her nose with a finger, making her laugh again and lean back. “They keep you safe and happy. And I’m a big fan of whoever and whatever keeps you safe and happy, my little acolyte.”</p><p>When she opened her eyes again, she could barely catch the green robe fluttering out of sight.</p><p> </p><p>It was pretty late when they came back from the Evening Nip to their rooms, and by the time everyone was sorted out for the night, Jester still had one thing on her to-do list.</p><p>After looking everywhere, she found Molly on a balcony that overlooked the road just over the main entrance. Or was it Lucien? The Nonagon? She bit her lip and flicked her tail, hesitating. Would he even want to talk about it? What if the odd run-in with his tabaxi friend didn’t mean anything to him and she was just worrying about nothing?</p><p>What if it <em> did </em>mean something, though, and he was feeling all confused and scared and alone? She had no clue, but she couldn’t risk it.</p><p>He was turning his back to her, leaning on the railing, and from the way his head was tilted he was looking at the sky, where the moon peeked intermittently from behind fast, milky clouds. When she called his name, he didn’t flinch, but he didn’t tell her to go away, either.</p><p>She stepped out on the balcony, walking up to him until she could see his profile. Stony and inexpressive, it didn’t give her anything. “What happened?” she asked, putting a hand on his forearm, right where the snake tattoo disappeared in his rolled-up sleeve. “Back there?”</p><p>He looked down at that, watching Jester’s lean fingers covering the inky swirls on his skin. “I have no idea.”</p><p>Catching the hint of fear hiding in his small, honest voice, Jester’s heart clenched. “Are you okay, Molly?”</p><p>She hoped he would confide in her, let her help him. But he just sighed and shrugged.</p><p>That wouldn’t do. Jester leaned forward and let her hand slide down his forearm, until she caught his hand. He didn’t put up any resistance when she took it and turned it. “I’m going to read your fortune, Mr. Circus Man.”</p><p>That made Molly’s lips curl in a small smile, <em> finally. </em>“Please, go ahead.”</p><p>With a confident smile, she splayed Molly’s fingers wide, turning his hand to the light of the moon and looking closely at it, as though she was trying to read the fine print. “I see… something very good is waiting for you,” she lied.</p><p>Well, it wasn’t going to be a <em> lie </em>if she had it her way.</p><p>Molly chuckled. “That’s always nice to hear.”</p><p>His reaction emboldened her, and she started to trace one of the lines crossing his palm. “Yeah, it says it right here, see? You will be very lucky very soon, but you’ll have to be quick.” Grasping his hand, she dragged him along as she walked backward, until her back hit the wall.</p><p>It wasn’t private, but they were less exposed than they were a moment ago. The wooden awning covering the balcony cast his shadow on them as Jester left Molly’s hand, grabbed him by the horns and kissed him on the mouth.</p><p>It was unexpectedly chaste, at first. Her intent was, after all, to be of comfort; she would have been perfectly happy to just press her lips against his, breathing in his scent with her eyes closed, maybe just have a quick little taste of him with the tip of her tongue. Be close, let him know that she was there, that he was not alone. She let her hands slip from his horns and wrapped her arms around his neck, relaxing against him as she exhaled from her nose.</p><p>With a pained sound in the back of his throat, Molly tilted his head, deepening the kiss as he explored her mouth, tongue catching in her fangs. With a muffled, delighted laugh, she did the same, purposefully letting Molly’s sharp teeth graze her tongue. They had kissed in the bathtub, but she had been a little… otherwise preoccupied to pay proper attention to it. She thought she liked it. Very much.</p><p>“You said I’d have to be quick,” Molly said against her lips, and Jester felt his hands gripping her hips, thumbs brushing on her rib cage. “How quick, Jester?”</p><p>They should have gone inside. Anyone looking a bit too closely from the road or stepping out on the balcony could have caught them. Jester shivered and started pulling up her skirt. “Just hurry up.”</p><p>She felt Molly smiling when he leaned in again to kiss her, as one of his hands left her hips and reached under her skirt, touching her exactly where she wanted to be touched. “The moon is out tonight,” he said, kissing her on the side of the neck. Jester tilted her head back as her hips matched the movement of Molly’s fingers. “I don’t think we’ll have to be worried about being seen.”</p><p>Jester didn’t understand, but he sounded so confident. “No?”</p><p>“Unless that’s what you want.”</p><p>What Jester wanted became pretty obvious when she started undoing the fastenings on Molly’s pants, and even more when she canted her hips in invitation. He sighed when she touched him, and his hand stopped as he tilted his head back, looking at her again with that intense, appraising expression.</p><p>She kissed him on the nose and tightened her grasp, just a little, reveling in the low rumbling noise she elicited from him. “Please?”</p><p>Later, she would lie awake thinking about what Molly, who had had scores of lovers of every shape and size, would have thought of her obvious inexperience, but right then it didn’t matter. Right then it was only the two of them, and the moonlight glinting suspiciously bright on the gems on Molly’s horns.</p><p> </p><p>It was an ordinary night spent sleeping on the road. Jester wished everyone goodnight, not knowing that it was the last time she would talk to Molly.</p><p>When her friends freed her from the Iron Shepherds, he wasn’t among them.</p><p>Molly was dead.</p><p> </p><p>And then he wasn’t.</p><p> </p><p>And then it got worse.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The second chapter is already written and I'm going to post it in the next few days. In the meantime, come say hi to me on <a href="https://mllekurtz.tumblr.com/">Tumblr!</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>When he wakes up, there’s diamond dust on his chest, moisture on his face and a deafening emptiness in his head.</p>
<p>Then the air is knocked out of his lungs by a squeezing hug. His vision swims, and in the dim light he can barely make out dark blue hair and a horn that nearly pokes his eye out. “It’s him,” Jester’s voice says. “It’s him, it’s Molly, I know it.”</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know Molly's gone forever, but my comfort fic, my rules.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When he wakes up, there’s diamond dust on his chest, moisture on his face and a deafening emptiness in his head.</p>
<p>His first few seconds of consciousness are a blank slate. As he gets used to existing again, he feels… suspended. He <em> feels, </em>which is something.</p>
<p>The silence that follows his first frantic intake of breath is followed by a voice — unfamiliar, he thinks — crying something he doesn’t understand. A second lilting, deep, upbeat voice speaks next, and this time the words congeal into a meaning. “Welcome back, friend.”</p>
<p>Quickly, painfully, disparate and jagged pieces of reality come together in an onrush of memories, filling his empty mind with a useless jumble of information. It feels like he’s been awakened from a long, vivid dream, if only he could remember how dreaming feels like. Memories, though… Something’s coming back, but nothing makes sense. It feels like he’s been underwater, only occasionally resurfacing for air, always too little and never often enough.</p>
<p>He swats everything away, overwhelmed, focusing on sensation instead.</p>
<p>He’s lying on the cold, hard ground. His skin <em> burns </em> and his throat hurts <em> . </em>There’s something wet and sticky on his face — tears, maybe, or blood. He hopes they’re not his. He can’t move, but he feels like has to. Is he in danger?</p>
<p><em> When are you not, darling? </em>The voice that pierces his thoughts is mocking and sharp, but it’s his own, for the first time in a long, long time.</p>
<p>“Steady, now.” The deep voice is gentle and firm, just like the hand on his shoulder that keeps him from moving. “You’ve had a bad case of death, just now. Don’t rush it.”</p>
<p>“Which one is he?” a third voice asks, harsh and hurt.</p>
<p>“Too early to say.” The hand that’s gripping his shoulder doesn’t budge. Not that he’s going anywhere. </p>
<p>If this is another dream, it’s a vivid one. The next breath he takes leads to a coughing fit that sticks sharp spikes of pain between his ribs.</p>
<p>“Oh no, oh no, oh no.” A frantic voice and another touch, this time of cool fingers on his forehead. They seem to stick to his skin, and he wonders if there’s blood on him, and if it’s his.</p>
<p>A rush of healing energy runs through him, awakening distant memories. It’s too little to put him right, but at least his lungs and his skin don’t feel like they’re on fire anymore.</p>
<p>And he remembers. It feels so good he could cry. “Jester?” he half-coughs through the needles in his throat. “Was that… a healing spell? What <em> happened </em>to you?”</p>
<p>Her answer is a short, ringing laugh with tears in it. Then the air he worked so hard to inhale is knocked out of his lungs by a squeezing hug. His vision swims, and in the dim light he can barely make out dark blue hair and a horn that nearly pokes his eye out. “It’s him,” Jester’s voice says. “It’s him, it’s Molly, I know it.” The short silence that follows is broken by muffled conversation, the unmistakable sound of blades being sheathed and at least one spell fizzling out.</p>
<p>He knows there must be a reason why the issue of his identity was on the table, but right now Molly — yeah, that’s his name — doesn’t care. He wants to touch Jester back, both to reassure her and to make her stop clinging to him like their lives depended on it, but it seems his coordination has yet to come back from the dead.</p>
<p>Speaking of. “Did you… bring me back?” he croaks out, his voice imperceptibly steadier than before.</p>
<p>“Ah, I’m afraid that was me.” Molly tries to focus on the speaker, but a pink blur is all that he can make out. “Our little blue friend was all out of spells after she brought us back to this plane. Well, except for that healing one she just used, it seems.”</p>
<p>Jester’s voice is muffled as she speaks against his shoulder. “I was saving it for Molly.”</p>
<p>“I’m Caduceus Clay,” the pink blur goes on. “Glad to finally make your acquaintance, properly.”</p>
<p>It’s starting to be a little too much to take in. Molly is tempted to close his eyes again and just let everything happen to him for a while. Which is exactly what he does.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He doesn’t know when he blacked out again, but there are fleeting moments of consciousness, few and far between. He’s aware he’s being carried somewhere, and even if the meaning of the words spoken around him doesn’t stick, the urgent and exhausted tone of the voices uttering them speaks for itself.</p>
<p>“Are we supposed to believe,” he hears someone say one time, rumbling and troubled, “that all it took was for him to die again? And that it’s Molly all the way down, now?”</p>
<p>He doesn’t catch the answer to that, but something about that remark makes sense to him, even though he’s still too tired — he is so, <em> so </em>tired — to put a finger on the reason.</p>
<p>When someone adds, with a tone of finality: “Let’s never speak about what happened again, agreed?” a chorus of replies follows: “Agreed.”</p>
<p><em> Agreed, </em> he thinks, before going under once again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The next time consciousness pays him a visit, Molly tightens his hold on it and refuses to let go. He’s afraid he’ll never fully wake up if he doesn’t make an effort to <em> be </em> instead of just existing. At first it feels like steering an ungovernable ship, and he’s tempted to give up.</p>
<p>But, like last time, sensations trickle down and he grasps at them, clinging to these lifelines to chart his way to something resembling a here and now. </p>
<p>Reality’s slippery shape slowly thickens into particulars: his clean — or at least clean<em>er,</em> as far as he can tell — body covered in something soft; candlelight; a soft, comfortable surface under him; and warmth. The latter seems to have a specific source, not to mention limbs and a light snore.</p>
<p>Trying to move as little as possible, he takes stock of himself as best he can. He’s indoors, he’s in a bed, and he’s not alone. He’s lying on his back, and the shape clinging to his side with one arm thrown over his stomach and a tail wrapped around his left ankle, drooling on the sleeve of the clean shirt he doesn’t remember changing into, is that of a sleeping blue tiefling.</p>
<p>Feelings are complicated at the best of times, so he doesn’t even try to disentangle them when they rush in. He’s just grateful he’s not alone. And alive, in the first place.</p>
<p>He turns carefully, so he can loop one arm around Jester and maybe go back to sleep for a bit. While he’s at it, he presses a kiss on the top of her head, which makes him feel like he’s blessing her, when it should be the other way around. It’s not enough, not by a long shot, but there will be time, hopefully.</p>
<p>His stirring, however, causes Jester to wake up as well. “You’re awake,” she mumbles in the middle of a yawn, , stretching languidly on and beside him, and then looking at him with wide purple eyes. </p>
<p>The relief at seeing her again hits him unexpectedly, and he smiles, not caring to hide the tears in his eyes. “I guess so.”</p>
<p>“I’m supposed to call the others,” she adds, making no move to do so. Instead, she clings even tighter to him, to the point of discomfort. When he feels her shaking, he holds her, hugging her as tight as she did, and cries with his nose buried in her hair.</p>
<p>After a couple of minutes, Jester lets out a long sigh and wipes her nose with her shirtsleeve. Molly finds it adorable. She takes a pillow and props herself on it, prone, with her chin on her hands. “So, I should really wait for the others to be here, but… you haven’t been you for a while.”</p>
<p>So this is it, then. Molly steels himself. “Do I want to know what happened to me? It’s a real question, Jester, and I need a real answer.”</p>
<p>Jester sniffles, contemplating the wall above the headboard. “Like I said, you weren’t you. There was a fight. We needed to stop you. You died.” Four sentences, quick, as if she were plunging a knife into her own flesh. When she speaks again, her voice trembles. “I hurt you.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry for what I’m about to ask.” He knows an apology is not enough, but he needs to know. “Was it you?”</p>
<p>The tension in her shoulders tells him all he needs to know. </p>
<p>He takes a deep breath. It doesn’t feel as bad as he thought it would. Molly reaches out to stroke her hair. “It’s okay, darling. You brought me back.”</p>
<p>After a moment, Jester leans into the touch. “Caduceus did.”</p>
<p>Molly wets his lips, trying to put his thoughts into words. “He may have cast the spell, but I don’t think everyone was on board with the decision to bring me back. Am I wrong?”</p>
<p>“I insisted.” Jester is talking to the pillow, now. “When I… when I first attacked you, you looked at us. <em> You </em>looked at us, Molly.” She finally makes eye contact. “You were there. I saw you.”</p>
<p>Molly’s starting to understand. “It was a gamble. Killing me and bringing me back.”</p>
<p>Jester’s shrug simplifies the impossible decision she’s had to make, her friends have had to make. “Lucien needed to be stopped either way.”</p>
<p><em> Lucien. </em>Of course.</p>
<p>“And we took some precautions, with the help of a couple of friends.” She takes his right hand and lifts it so he can see it. There are burn marks, still angry and red even after the healing spell, on the palm and the back of it, where the red eyes used to be.</p>
<p>“He is not coming back.” There’s a heavy finality in Jester’s voice that — ridiculous as it sounds — makes Molly fear for Lucien if he should ever find a way of doing so.</p>
<p>Speechless, he stares at the drape hanging above the four-poster. It’s painted with shining little stars, which twinkle and shine in a way that belies some magic at work. He frowns, fascinated. “Where are we?”</p>
<p>Jester hugs the pillow tighter. “In Caleb’s tower. We’ve all learned a few new tricks since… since you left us.”</p>
<p>Her explanation doesn’t really explain anything, and Molly has the strong suspicion he’ll have to get used to it. The prospect delights him.</p>
<p>When he strokes her cheek, Jester closes her eyes. He can see the signs left by worry and exhaustion on her face as well as on her soul. “You’ve come such a long way, sweetheart. You all must have. I can’t wait to see all of it.”</p>
<p>Jester’s giggle mends a few cracks he hasn’t realised he had on his heart. “You haven’t even heard Fjord’s new accent yet. Oh, gosh, Molly, so much has happened. We need to catch you up with <em> so </em> much stuff. I should <em> really </em>call the others.”</p>
<p>But she doesn’t move, and neither does Molly.</p>
<p>“I missed you,” Jester whispers against the hand that’s cupping her cheek. “So much. I was so afraid you were never coming back. I was afraid we would have had to kill you again.”</p>
<p>“Well, you <em> did </em>kill me. And I got better. It was the right thing to do.” Molly smiles at her. “Come on, show me something impressive you’ve learned.”</p>
<p>The grin on her freckled face is a sight for sore eyes, and Molly can’t help but laugh as she murmurs an incantation and, a moment later, the room is filled with small, translucent creatures, floating and sweeping under the twinkling canopy. What looks like a unicorn hamster lands on Molly’s nose, making his eyes cross.</p>
<p>When Jester straddles him, the bright pink hamster flies away. She bends down on him and kisses him on the lips, sweetly and gently.</p>
<p>He thought he may be too tired to react, but his body is still reliable this way, it seems. They take their time savouring each other. It’s Jester who leads this dance, dictating their rhythm, and Molly’s more happy to oblige her, to give her everything he has, to tell her how good and lovely she is with his words and his hands and his body, to make her feel exactly as loved as she deserves to be.</p>
<p>There will be time for everything else, later. He has <em> time. </em> Jester made sure of it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
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